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The NEW BrianHimes.com

Brian — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 00:33:27 +0000

The NEW BrianHimes.com is on the way! Don’t fret. The same content you’ve come to know and love will be back soon.

Identity Crisis

Brian — Fri, 14 Nov 2008 00:02:00 +0000

If you haven’t noticed, with my recent departure from ministry this blog has been suffering from a little bit of an identity crisis. It’s a direct reflection of its writer.

I’m not really sure what my place in life is right now. Even though being a youth minister was a part-time job for me, it was an identifying factor in who I thought I was. Now that I’m stepping away from that, I don’t know where I fit in at church, in the blogsphere, or life in general. I’m a little lost.

Please bare with me as I search for my niche.

Blog Action Day

Brian — Mon, 13 Oct 2008 20:02:00 +0000

Blog Action Day 2008. Are you going to participate?

Follow Me

Brian — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 03:08:00 +0000

If you haven’t already noticed, I have added a new experimental feature to the side bar of my blog. It’s called “followers.” If you’re a regular reader of this blog I’d love to have you sign up as a follower. To follow the blog you only have to click the link that reads “follow this blog.” It’s that easy.

Ooops! Please Disregard

Brian — Thu, 14 Aug 2008 23:45:00 +0000

Please, Please, Please Disregard the Post Titled: FriendFeed Email Address Verification! It was not supposed to go through to the blog. Hopefully by the time you read this post the post will be gone already. Thank you for understanding.

Where Have My Friends Gone?

Brian — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 19:00:00 +0000

Where have all my friends gone? Here are the top 5 inactive blogs in my Google Reader:

Life in Visalia, Last Post: 4/9/07
Carpe Noctem, Last Post: 7/19/07
Just Another Parabola, Last Post: 9/20/07
Long-winded Last Words, Last Post: 2/24/08
MalibuGirl, Last Post: 3/5/08

Blogger vs. WordPress

Brian — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:54:00 +0000

I was recently speaking with a friend regarding blogging platforms. I don't remember the exact question he asked me, but it was regarding which blogging platform he should use if he wanted to post a few pictures here and there. This friend already uses the photo sharing site, Flickr, but wanted something a little more blog like.

The majority of the short conversation centered around the Blogger vs. WordPress debate. Having not used WordPress, my opinion was extremely limited, but I shared what I did know and what I have been able to observe. Thinking back on the topic there was a lot more I could have told him but I think he got the gist of it.

Personally, I like the look of the WordPress blogs more overall. It could be that I've just seen so many Blogger blogs out there and they all look the same. Blogger users tend to all use one of the 10, or so, available templates. It's a little boring, if you ask me. With WordPress you seem to have more options. More layouts to choose from and more functionality to add, but that's just my observation.

Blogger has it's benefits though. It is extremely easy to use and works with your Google account, which was a the reason I jumped aboard 3 years ago. With the release of Blogger in Draft, a special version of Blogger where they test new features before releasing them to the general public, Blogger seems to be working toward closing the gap between them and WordPress by releasing new functionality more quickly.

My main gripe with Blogger is that they wont let you create multiple pages for your blog, as near as I can tell anyway. WordPress seems to allow you to have more than just the one page, giving your blog more the look of an actual website. It's probably a trivial issue to most, but for me it's kind of annoying.

If I had it to do over again I'd probably use WordPress, but that's because I would like to be able to tweek more settings than Blogger typically allows. I want to have all the gadgets and tricks available for my disposal, should I choose to use them or not. Blogger is still a good tool, and it seems to be improving all the time, which is mostly what has kept me there. Well, that and the fact that I don't want to have to move everything, but that's beside the point.

I could probably keep rambling on and on indefinitely, but let me ask you a question instead. What blogging tool is your favorite? Where would you blog if you were starting from scratch?

Moving On

Brian — Fri, 25 Jul 2008 16:17:00 +0000

After careful consideration I have decided it's time for me to move on. I will be dropping the esotericallyspeaking name. It has served me well over the years, but it's time for a change. When I began the process of moving my blog to brianhimes.com I thought I might choose this course, but it's hard to let something go that has been a part of your life for almost 3 years. It's tough moving on and I'm a little sad to see the name go.

I have decided to make the change simply because I no longer have need for a clever name. When I began this blog I wanted to keep my thoughts private and only reveal them to a select few. Well, things changed pretty early on and word got out. Everyone knew it was me, so I gave in and revealed myself promoting the blog more openly. At that point the name no longer served a purpose, but I kept it, thinking it provided at least a little anonymity. I held on to that delusion for a while; but now, I feel it's mearly a source for confusion. What does it mean? What's the blog about? Why do you call your blog that? Where is your blog again? I think brianhimes.com will be a little easier to remember and make a lot more sense to everyone.

If you link to this blog, I ask that you please change your link to brianhimes.com.

If you read this blog through a feed please use http://feeds.feedburner.com/brianhimes or http://feeds.brianhimes.com/brianhimes.com.

I will be shutting down the esotericallyspeaking feed in the next few days. If I do the move correctly, I understand that you will be redirected for a short time and then asked to update to the new address. Hopefully I won't loose anyone in the process.

Thank you, my faithful readers. While I may be changing the name, rest assured that I will continue to bring you the same poor quality writing and hair-brained thoughts you have enjoyed over the years.

Wordle

Brian — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 23:08:00 +0000

Here’s a Wordle based on recent posts.

Hat tip: Heather

Seven Blogs You Must Read

Brian — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 18:54:00 +0000

I just came across an interesting article called Seven Blogs You Must Read And Other Useful Know-How. It goes nicely with my recent post on Feed Aggregators.

In light of the Seven Blogs… article I have decided to post my own list of 7 blogs. Here they are in no particular order.

chrisbrogan.com – An insightful blog about social networking, community, and technology for the workplace.
Church Marketing Sucks – This blog calls churches to step up their marketing efforts and throws out some great marketing insights and thoughts.
LAist – All you could ever want to know about what’s going on in Los Angeles.
WebUrbanist - A cool blog with amazing photos of amazing places. It’ll bring out the explorer in you.
Heal Your Church Web Site – Great advice for anyone building a website, especially churches.
churchrelevance.com – Logos, graphic design, web design, research, and church consulting all in one place.
Brand New – If branding and logos are interesting to you you’ll find the side by side comparisons of new and old logos quite interesting.

Hat tip: Chris Brogan